When a plane crashes into the Antarctic ice, exposing a massive cave beneath, a rescue and research team is dispatched. Twenty-four hours later, all contact is lost. Captain Alex Hunter and his highly trained squad of commandos are fast tracked to the hot zone to find out what went wrong - and to follow up the detection of a vast underground reservoir.

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Publisher's Summary

When a plane crashes into the Antarctic ice, exposing a massive cave beneath, a rescue and research team is dispatched. Twenty-four hours later, all contact is lost. Captain Alex Hunter and his highly trained squad of commandos are fast tracked to the hot zone to find out what went wrong - and to follow up the detection of a vast underground reservoir. Accompanying the team is an assortment of researchers, including petrobiologist Aimee Weir. If the unidentified substance proves to be an energy source, every country in the world will want to know about it - some would even kill for it. Once inserted into the cave system, they don't find any survivors - not even a trace of their bodies. Primeval hieroglyphs hint at an ancient civilisation, and an ancient danger. Spectres of the dead haunt the tunnels. Within hours, one of the party will die. To bring his team out alive, Alex will need every one of his mysterious abilities beneath the dark ice.

This was a very interesting take on an Antarctic find, and subsequent adventure.The narration was excellent! The story was not the normal 2 or 3 mixed sub stories that need to come together at the end. However, there are enough different things happening all within one story that keeps it interesting. There are a couple things that are quite unbelievable but then again, what do we really know about what's underneath Antarctica. It's a real page turner that keeps you wanting more. I highly recommend it.

The Antarctic is all the rage for suspense stories these days, and this offering is one of the better ones. Abit gory at times, but overall a deft action/adventure/fantasy all wrapped up into one icy concept. Need more than a small amount of belief suspension, but overall an entertaining piece of suspense. The James Rollins appreciators will get this one !

What made the experience of listening to Beneath the Dark Ice the most enjoyable?

Narration is fantastic! Couldn't ask for better!

What did you like best about this story?

This is a new genre for me. Action, thriller with a bit of the supernatural thrown in. I really loved the discriptions of the underworld. The secondary story is very interesting. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the ancient world.

Which character – as performed by Sean Mangan – was your favorite?

Sean Mangan did a terrific job in narraration! I was never confused on who is speaking. Each character is developed and unique. I cared about them all!

Any additional comments?

To be fair, there are parts of this story are really absurd. The main character has superhuman strength due to a bullet lodged in his brain. There were other things as well that were unrealistic. I was able to overlook these faults because I really enjoyed the story and found the characters lovable. You really have to suspend your disbelief for this book but if you can do that then you will really enjoyed this book. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys books like the Relic by Douglas Preston & Lincolin Child.

I had heard quite a lot of ranting about the Alex Hunter series and Greig Beck in general on different forums, and was really looking forward to this one, but it wasn't quite what I expected...sometimes boring and a little repetitive...NOT a good thing for a an adventure/thriller like this one. Beck also makes several factual errors about the military side of things, but it doesn't really ruin anything as the story actually has a decent pace and has likeable characters.

All-in-all not a 5 star effort, but a solid 3. I will certainly buy and read/listen to book 2, just to see if things improve enough for me to put the whole series on my reading lists...

I know it's a good book when I can't stop reading/ listening to it. Started during breakfast, put ear buds in while vacuuming, and when I found myself still listening as I was making supper, I knew I had found a good one. Now I realize there are 3 more in this series! Wish I could take a vacation and get caught up.

Sean Mangan was absolutely fantastic, a new favorite reader of mine. Perfect on the narration in my opinion.

Any additional comments?

I love the idea(s) behind the book but I just could not connect with the story. I don't really know how to put it but I did not feel as though as was there in the cave with the characters, some of my favorite books make me feel as though I'm there myself. Details of creatures and the main characters was great but I'm not sure I felt the same way about the world the story is set in, I believe this is the area I felt distant from.

The author references the Spyderco Manix knife as one of the only folding knives that can be opened one handed yet this is just ridiculous as most

I enjoyed the story and the adventure. Really liked all of the detailed background information. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is that some of the scenes and things they encountered were a bit grousoome - but I will continue to listen to his other books.

I'm not going to deal with the plot. It's too painful. Let's talk characters instead. Every character in this book suffers a truly massive case of HCSS (Horror Character Stupid Syndrome); the book is a textbook example of Roger Ebert’s "Idiot Plot" (defined as any plot containing problems which would be solved instantly if all of the characters were not idiots).Case in point: all through the book, characters have watched a number of friends/colleagues get sliced, diced, & devoured by the Giant Primordial Squid. The GPS suckers (ha!) in the victims by using its Dead Friend Decoys, which it creates using tentacles which have the ability to swell up into lookalikes of the people it’s eaten. Near the end, one character had to be left behind for a while, all alone in the dark with the monster, pretty much guaranteed to get eaten. The gang eventually goes back into the cave & they see the stranded woman standing in the dimness, blank-faced, mute, animated as a stuffed moose, looking exactly like a brainless fake. Does the gang say “Oh no, she got eaten, it’s a decoy! Run away!” Do they hell: “Gasp! She’s alive!” And two of them run to her and give her a big hug. Slurp! I don’t consider this a spoiler because my turtle could see this coming and was not surprised.

The characters are so two-dimensional they’re not even good stereotypes. We have:

The Super Soldier who, through no fault of his own, has been transformed into Something Beyond Human, so of course no one could possibly love him and he’ll never get to know love again, like he had with She Who Had to Be Left Behind. Does he find love with the Super Smart Scientist Girl (who can somehow see past his cool exterior to the warm yet damaged, hidden heart within)? No points for guessing correctly.

The Evil, Greedy Yet Banal Scientist: For anyone old enough (or unlucky enough in reruns) to see the original “Lost in Space” TV series, this guy is more obnoxious & fingernails-on-chalkboard irritating than Dr Smith. What’s even harder to believe is the response of the other characters to this guy: he’s sneeringly condescending, insulting, nagging, nit-picking, tantrum-throwing, sexual-pass-oozing, & power-tripping throughout the book. He repeatedly insists upon moving the whole bunch ever-deeper into the cave so that they end up serving themselves as sequential meal courses for the monster, in order to demonstrate his ‘revolutionary’ machine and make mega-bucks for himself. But everyone treats him with incredible patience and forbearance; nobody even snaps at the guy, making then all immediate candidates for sainthood in my book.

The Super Smart Scientist Girl:…I can’t go on. You can fill in the blanks.

The science in this book is beyond ridiculous. I know it’s fiction so the author gets to make stuff up. I discovered –and have loved-- science fiction since I was 9. But these compressed-air-bullet weapons are real doozies. Not solid projectiles powered by air. These guns fire adjustable-sized….wads…of compressed air that shoot through ambient air (without dissipating) & impact things just like bullets. As if you could call forth your inner mime & pretend to make a snowball, pack it down tight, throw your pretend-air ball at a window & watch the shards fly! Just like that, only at bullet speeds. Sorry, not even my disbelief suspension mechanism is up to that.

(Well, just goes to show how little I know. There is an actual picture of a biological version of this weapon, Shukaku expelling an air bullet, at the Naruto wiki, under Drilling Air Bullet Harbour Blow. The technique is explained quite simply, under Drilling Air Bullet. It's so obvious --the amount of chakra makes them powerful-- I'm surprised I didn't think of it.)

The size of the monster is another issue: it’s variously compared to a blue whale (90-100 ft) and a 747 (184- 250 feet, depending on the model) sized. Apparently not even the author knows out how big the thing is.

Small peeve; (but really, the book is so bad it begs griping at minutiae): the reader pronounces “debris” as “DEB-ree” which would be irritating enough, but evidently it’s the author’s favorite word. It was used more than 14 times in a little over 2 hours. When I start counting things, I KNOW an audiobook is irretrievably awful.

A much, much better biological SF/thriller is “Fragment,” by Warren Fahy it’s got better science AND is more exciting, has better characters, writing, etc. Better read, too. There are times in “Fragment” when the scientific explanations may be somewhat overwhelming to the non-scientist, but even if you zone out in those small spots the book is a decent page-turner and, at times, a lot of fun.

Step away from "Beneath the Dark Ice" and put down your wallet. You will regret the lost money and time.

I liked the character of Arcadian and his struggle with his darker, more primitive nature as he tries to protect his group.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, though sometimes it got almost tiring as the group kept running and hiding from the same creature.

Which scene was your favorite?

I really liked the ending....but if I describe it I'd be giving it away.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, just an enjoyable adventure story

Any additional comments?

The story is similar to James Rollins', "Subterranean" but it had some different twists and turns. I was very glad the author didn't extend the Russian "bad guy" encounter any further, because the drama with the creature was enough to keep my interest. So many "action/adventure" authors overdo the conflict by inserting too many antagonists which actually takes away from their stories, for example David L Golemon's books. My only complaint with this novel, is that some of the run, jump, hide scenes could have been shorter. I didn't quite get the need for the epilogue, which was out of context with the ending.I had read this in paperback a few years ago and hearing it on audio was even better Very good narrator.

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